College Football Has Changed is it For the Better?
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College football is in the news again, and it’s for all the wrong reasons.
The powers that be in the NCAA, along with the coaches are throwing support behind a playoff format that would expand the current field from 12 teams to 24. That means that the playoff field will have grown six times over in just a few short years.
How does that affect the Baylor Bears?
Well, that depends on how you look at things.
What Used To Be Great
One of the greatest things about college football was it was the only regular season where every game truly mattered. One bad day on the field, and your team’s championship aspirations could go up in smoke.
Sure, there were examples of that format having teams excluded who may have belonged in a playoff format.
In the BCS era, there were examples of three teams having identical records, but the computer picked who was more deserving of a national championship berth.
The four team college football playoff was supposed to solve all of those issues. Of course, Baylor knows all too well that there were still omissions under that format.
In 2014, the initial year of the four team format, Baylor and TCU were both 11-1, with Baylor boasting a head to head victory over the Horned Frogs in a dramatic 61-58 tilt in Waco.
Baylor controlled their destiny from there, but were victimized by West Virginia just one week later, a 41-27 loss.
At the time, the Big 12 did not have a conference championship game, which led to a split conference title between the Bears and the Horned Frogs.
That ultimately was the justification for giving the nod to Ohio State over either of the Big 12 participants for the final playoff spot in the four team format.
The Big 12 responded by instituting a conference championship game in hopes they’d never be left out in the cold again if a similar situation presented itself.
The four team format would last until the 2023 season, when support for a 12-team format got louder than ever.
Despite the discussion earlier about Baylor and TCU being left out, there may be no more egregious postseason omission than Florida State getting shut out of postseason play following a perfect 2023 regular season.
Michigan won the national championship that year, and the playoff format changed to 12 teams for the 2024 season.
The 2024 season is an example of how the expanded playoff format could help Baylor’s cause in making a run at the postseason.
Ohio State lost two games that season, including one as a three-touchdown favorite at home against a seven-win Michigan team in Columbus to close the regular season.
In previous years, that would have been a death sentence for the Buckeyes. Instead, the expanded playoff format gave them new life.
To their credit, they would steamroll through the playoff and win a national championship after looking dead in the water in late November.
The downside?
The postseason in any sport is supposed to be exclusive. The best of the best fighting against each other. Missing the playoff should hurt, and teams should lament missed opportunities, even if some of the opportunities feel outside of the team’s control.
Expanding the postseason has unintended consequences.
The regular season has been cheapened with 24 teams making the postseason. Imagine a rivalry game between two teams resting their starters because the game ultimately does not matter for postseason seeding?
You laugh at the notion, but you probably would have laughed at the idea of college players opting out of playing in bowl games before Leonard Fournette ultimately started that trend.
Secondly, the postseason is cheapened.
Can you imagine a team trying to boast about being the 24th team to make the playoff field?
We used to argue about whether the fifth team was deserving to make the playoff or not, now we’ll be arguing collectively about the 25th team.
That’s asinine for a field that is supposed to reward the best of the best.
College football used to do that.
Now, they’re rewarding the best that money has to offer.
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Jacob Westendorf is a contributing writer for Baylor Bears on SI. He is also a writer covering the Green Bay Packers for Packers on SI. Westendorf graduated from University of Wisconsin-Green Bay where he earned a degree in communication with an emphasis in journalism and mass media. He worked in newspapers in Green Bay and Rockford, Illinois. He also interned at Packer Report for Bill Huber while earning his degree. In 2018, he became a staff writer for PackerReport.com, and a regular contributor on Packer Report's "Pack A Day Podcast." In 2020, he founded the media company Game On Wisconsin. In 2023, he rejoined Packer Central, which is part of Sports Illustrated Media Group.